Thread by @amani_aal

To explain the origin story of how the #Maleguardianship law came about.
I must first tell the story of #MishaalAlSaud. She was a #Saudi princesses that was executed in 1977 for committing adultery. In sharia law, such crimes must be witnessed by 4 men during the sexual act.

Or if the person confessed in court three times. But when you are royalty the sharia rules don’t apply. #MishaalAlSaud was 19 years old when her father “King Fahad” sent her away to Lebanon for school. She met & fell in love with the #Saudi ambassador’s nephew #KhalidAlMulhallal

Both #MishaalAlSaud and #KhalidAlMulhallal made the mistake of meeting up with each other a couple of times when they came back to #Saudi. Soon enough word got out and they were both in trouble. So #MishaalAlSaud decide to fake her own death by drowning and flee the country.

Despite her being disguised as a man at Jeddah airport. She was identified by the passport examiner as the Saudi princess #MishaalAlSaud. She was then transported to her family. There have been reports that state her family begged her not to confess in court. However she did.

It’s believed that she was forced to confess. But nonetheless she was beheaded in a parking lot in Jeddah by her older brother. A true act of a tribal honor killing. Her lover was forced to watch her beheading and was shortly murdered after taking five blows to sever his head.

Shortly after British producer Anthony Thomas came to #Saudiarabia & interviewed people to produce a documentary film regarding her execution. The film was titled “Death of a Princess” it was scheduled to air on @pbs & @itv but the film was met with outrage & threats from #Saudi

It was both economical and diplomatic threats against the UK. After failing to get the film canceled. King #KhalidAlSaud expelled the British ambassador in #Saudi
@pbs was still on schedule when one of its major sponsors @exxonmobil published a full front page oped in @nytimes

The oped opposed the film and urged the public to stop it from broadcasting as it will hurt Saudi-American relations. Sounds familiar?
But luckily, @pbs went on to broadcast the film on most ya channels.

Shortly after #MishaalAlSaud’s death, #SaudiArabia issued a royal decree banning the travel of unaccompanied women. It is now known as the #MaleguardianshipLaw
Despite the concern this caused to other Islamic countries. Many understood this was due the princess death.

#AlSaud family had picked a groom for their daughter when she attempted to escape. It’s believed that #AlSaud princesses can only marry within the family. This is done to protect the family’s interest. The #MaleguardianshipLaw gives men authority over women in marriage & travel.

Again this explains how #Saudi came up with the #MaleGuardianshiplaw, it was done to keep their women and all women under their male guardians utter control. This level of extremism wasn’t due to the ‘ Sahwa’/ الصحوة as #MBS tries to point out. This is purely #AlSaud oppression!

This is the #Saudi barbaric regime that brought us here. It’s been decades since then. More & more women have suffered trying to escape their brutality but more than many end up getting tortured behind bars or murdered in cold bold.
#StopEnslavingSaudiWomen
#EndMaleGuardianship

To stop this modern day practice of controlling women. We must first understand it’s root cause and the mentality behind it. It’s urgent we bring this story to light and to hold #Saudi liable for this abuse, it has been going on for 39 years now & it needs to stop, immediately!

Here’s a few important link for you to review,

nytimes.com/1980/05/09/arc…

cambridgeclarion.org/press_cuttings…

Please help by sharing this thread to bring the issue of Saudi #MaleGuardianship to light.

@monaeltahawy @KarenAttiah @iyad_elbaghdadi @iyad_elbaghdadi @sarahleah1 @ConfessionsExMu @SarahAziza1

Just to clarify the picture in the first tweet is of the actress that played #MishaalAlSaud in the movie “Death of a princess”

m.imdb.com/title/tt027766…

Not that I encourage this, but you can also find videos and pictures of the execution online.

The actress that played her is Sawsan Badar. Sadly there are no pictures of the princess herself. Other than one of her execution. Which I cannot in good heart add to this thread. This was the only other picture I was able to find.